Of Sharks And Battlin' Bodines...

   When the Brickyard 400 starts Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway I'll  have one eye on the TV.
   The other eye, more sharply focused, will be on the Outer Banks surf at Avon, N.C.
   I'll be concentrating most intently on the ocean because I'm determined to somehow keep my seven grandchildren out of it.
   Trace this to three recent shark attacks on swimmers/waders along the Carolinas coast.  And some knowledgeable sources indicated to me this week that the number of  blacktips and bonnetheads moving in close to shore to feed seems to be growing by the hour.
    I'm going to be at Avon, on historic Hatteras Island, to host a family reunion of my son Chip and daughter Heather and their broods, the first gathering we've had in nine years.   It has taken this long because Chip and company live way out in west Texas at Lubbock, a long way from Heather and I in Mooresville, N.C.
    We'll be staying in a beachfront rental, and I fully understand the appeal the Atlantic will hold for the four youngsters from Texas, three of whom never have seen the ocean.
    However, for the sake of an old man's nerves, kids, please play in the pool!!!
   Better still, watch the race with me and I will regale you with memories of covering the first Brickyard 400 on Aug. 6 in 1994... 

   I'll tell you about:
   --The crowd that was there, an estimated 300,000, the largest throng I've ever seen.  Looking from the press box toward turn four, it seemed as if I was in a canyon, and the walls on each side were jammed with excited people.
   --The pre-race pageantry, among the best in NASCAR history.  Indy  officials invited  every  living champion of NASCAR's  top division  to the race, along with spouses.   And the storied drivers were treated to a  lap around the great old 2.5-mile track in convertibles.  What a thrill to see legends like Buck  Baker and Ned Jarrett and David Pearson and Cale Yarborough  receive such roaring acclaim.
   -- Mountaineer Rick Mast, a self-described country boy from little Rock Bridge Baths in Virginia, receiving rewards for winning the pole position in a major upset.  Mast, who traded a prize-winning cow for his first race car as a teenager, continued to remain a bit stunned by his accomplishment.
    I'll also tell you about:
   --Dale Earnhardt, maybe NASCAR's greatest driver ever, wanting to lead the first lap in stock car racing at Indy so badly he went into the fourth turn too hard and hit the wall.  Damage to the car of Earnhardt, who'd started on the front row alongside Mast, was slight and he continued to finish fifth.
   --An apparent "Family Feud" between the Bodine Brothers, Geoff and Brett.  Both had strong cars, and appeared capable of winning.  But on the 101st of the event's 160 laps a bumping battle broke out.  First, Geoff tagged Brett out of the lead.  Brett retaliated and Geoff crashed, a wreck that forced him from the race.  "We've had some personal family problems lately, so he took it out on the track," charged Geoff.  Countered Brett, destined to finish second: "I would never do that...But hearing it doesn't surprise me coming from him."  Whatever, the Bodine boys eventually made up.
   --A stirring battle among tough veteran Ernie Irvan and young newcomer Jeff Gordon for one of the most treasured victories in NASCAR history.  A caution flag on Lap 131 grouped the field for a furious charge to the finish.  When the green showed Rusty Wallace was the leader, but both Gordon and Irvan swept around him on Lap 136.  A classic  Chevrolet versus Ford duel ensued.  Gordon led laps 136-139 in his Chevy.  Irvan put his Ford in front laps 140-144.  Gordon led 145-149, Irvan led 150-155.  And then,  almost unbelievably, a flat right front tire forced Irvan to fall off the pace to eventually finish 17th.  Gordon was left with a 10-car-length lead over Brett Bodine, and he easily held on to win by .53 seconds.
"We had a mind game going on," said Irvan.  "I thought I was going to beat Jeff and he thought he was going to beat me."
    Finally, I'll  tell you about:
    --The sheer the ecstasy of Gordon, who had turned 23 only two days earlier.  Jeff had grown up in Indiana, becoming a phenom in open-cockpit cars  while racing in the midwest.  So the stirring triumph was very much a hometown-type thing for him.  "Oh, my God, I did it!  I did it!" Gordon shouted via radio to his crew on the team owned by Rick Hendrick as he took the checkered flag.  Gordon had broken down in a flood of emotion earlier in May of '94 upon scoring his first victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.  More of the same was expected.  But he composed himself this time.  "Charlotte prepared us for this...I took an extra victory lap to wipe the tears from my eyes," said Gordon.  Long after the Victory Lane ceremonies and other post-race hoopla, Gordon retired to his hotel room to savor winning all over again by watching a re-run of the race on TV.  He decided to order a pizza.  The kid taking Jeff's call told him it might be hours before a delivery could be made.  "There are a lot of people in town," the young fellow explained.  "See, we had a big race today."  Gordon chuckled.  "What if I told you I was the guy who won that race?"  Before long, Jeff had his pizza.
   Now...
   Hey, dear grandchildren of mine!
   Robert, Katie, Sam and Will Higgins...Jeffrey and Sadie McCarter...Sawyer Sherrill.
   Stay out of the surf and I'll buy you all the pizza you can eat.